Family is more than blood
by Yrelien
Summary: What if Fives was saved by an old friend? What if he found an ally who could relate to him all too well? And what if he wasn't the only one thinking for himself, refusing to be led by blind, false loyalty?
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so this is an experiment. To see if I'm any good at writing in the SW:TCW fandom. Please leave me a review if you're interested in the plot at all so I'll know if it's worth the effort or I should just let it play out in my mind and leave it unwritten. Thank you!**

**About the fic: This is supposed to be RexSoka, if you expected something else or this is not your cup of tea I apologize. I plan to write the story all the way up to Order 66 and beyond, although I have two ideas I can't choose between at this point. We'll cross that bridge later :)**

**Disclaimer: If I owned SW I would have given the clones a strong leader and would've let them rebel against the Republic and the longnecks. As I don't seem to own the franchise, well, I remain a dreamer...**

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She was agitated, annoyed, and infuriated by the news on the HoloNet. She couldn't and wouldn't believe that nonsense about Fives.

Ready to take action as soon as possible, but missing crucial information to do so she waited on tenterhooks, anticipating the call. Pacing the length of the apartment's living room she swore under her breath.

And then she answered the incoming call the moment her comlink went off.

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Not long after he left the 79's Fives was hit by a dizzy spell on his way to sector I9, coming close to crashing into another speeder. He barely managed to get his vehicle back under control when he was suddenly plucked out of his seat and yanked into a Robo-Hack. The offended Bith driver yelled obscenities after him, but he was soon forgotten as the shocked ARC sprawled inelegantly on the floor of the repulsorcraft furrowed his brows, staring at the smirking young woman in front of him.

"Commander?" his voice was filled with disbelief and confusion and the Togruta chuckled, offering her hand to the clone.

"I'm not your commander anymore, Fives. I'm not even a Jedi, remember?" grabbing the trooper's hand she pulled him to his feet, only to gently push him into a seat a second later. "Now that's better, isn't it? It's good to see you again, although I wish it was under different circumstances."

"Sir?" Fives was still visibly at a loss for words, not quite sure how – or, as a matter of fact, why – he found himself suddenly hauled into an airspeeder and off to an unknown location by his former superior.

Before he could further assess the situation or even try to regain his bearings his drugged, overwhelmed brain decided to shut itself off and he promptly passed out with a last thought that maybe he was, after all, losing his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

**And this is chapter two, everyone. I'm eternally grateful to those who left me reviews on the first chapter, they made me unbelievably happy. Please excuse me for not replying to each of you individually, but I had a full schedule over the weekend, with only minutes of free time and I used those to write. We'll see how that turned out. I'll post a new chapter as soon as I can. Till then have fun reading this one.**

**P.S: There may be some points that remain unclear here, but we'll get to them soon. **

**Disclaimer: The Star Wars fandom in not my sandbox, I'm merely playing in it.**

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One didn't have to be Force-sensitive to feel the negativity of his emotions roll off of Fives in tangible waves. He slept fitfully and as Ahsoka sat next to him on the floor, holding his hand and trying to project some semblance of peace towards him her heart broke for the man.

She'd been in his situation before, hunted for crimes she didn't commit, but even so she couldn't possibly imagine what it must have been like for him to be on the run, constantly watching over his shoulder lest his own brothers should catch up to him.

It was not fair.

After she'd left the Jedi temple she'd felt lost for a while, aimlessly walking the streets of Coruscant, trying to decide what to do with her life. Everything she had known before was lost to her, the whole foundation of her existence vanishing because of one decision she'd made. But at least she had friends she could turn to; friends that could help her adjust to life without the order, away from the front lines of the war.

Lux had been one such miracle, never questioning her judgment when she explained her predicament to him in a hasty call. He offered his Coruscanti apartment to her without a single moment of hesitation, having no use for it anyway as these days he'd spent most of his time either traveling between Onderon and Coruscant or in a Senatorial meeting somewhere.

And it was lucky he did so, else she wouldn't have had anywhere she could take the unconscious ARC now thrashing violently on the couch before her.

Her musings ended here as she was brought back to reality by a flailing hand, coming dangerously close to hitting her in the face as Fives turned suddenly in his sleep to face her, swinging his fist towards the Togruta. He was fighting some imaginary foe and Ahsoka's forehead creased, her facial markings drawing together in concern.

"Fives." she gently snatched his hand out of the air and gave it a squeeze, hoping to wake him from whatever hell he was trapped in. Alas, her efforts remained futile, because just like every single time she'd tried to rouse him before he only sank further into his feverish nightmares, now whimpering softly as a teardrop made its way down his cheek.

That single drop of moisture had startled her. She'd never seen a clone cry before. They were always so though, sheltering their emotions as much as possible, pushing through the pain the loss of their brothers must have caused them without expressing their grief in any way.

Therefore, to see Fives cry, even in his sleep, was so heart-wrenching to the young woman curled up on the floor next to him that she gave up on her attempts at waking him and rested her forehead against his, her thumbs gently circling over the backs of his hands in soothing motions.

Her slowly falling tears met his as they crawled towards the clone's chin, only to disappear in the small pillow under his head to leave a darkened patch of fabric as a tribute to their shared misery.

The small words of comfort she murmured over and over like a mantra, intended to ease Fives' troubled mind, slowly lulled Ahsoka to sleep. She was not sure she herself believed that everything would be alright, but she would try her hardest to make it happen, if only for the sake of this man who, along with each and every one of his brothers, deserved it more than anyone.


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter will bring in Rex, shed some light on a couple of things, but ultimately it's more likely to leave you with more questions than you originally had :D Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: All the previous nonsense applies.**

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They awoke at the same time, their eyes snapping open at the first beep of the comlink. Fives, disoriented as he was from the unfamiliar surroundings, leapt right off the couch and sprang to attention as it was ingrained in him, his arm lifted to answer the call.

It took him a moment to register the bleary eyed, snickering girl lying on the floor at his feet, motioning to him with familiar hand signals to keep quiet. This sight surprised him so much that he froze with a bewildered look on his face.

The young Togruta, however, didn't seem to be in any haste to explain the situation to him as she only gave a satisfied nod, bringing the comlink closer to her mouth so she could answer the call with a smile.

"Hey there." the familiarity and lack of formal introduction indicated that she'd anticipated the call, or at least that she was not fazed by it. Fives took that as a good sign.

"Good evening, littl'un." the ARC knew that voice. As similar as clones obviously were in many aspects, this particular, heavy timber was easily identified as that of Rex, Captain of the 501st. "How was your day? Did you find that missing pet of yours yet?"

Ahsoka gave the trooper standing before her a glance and then chuckled at his expression.

"Sure I did. I had to search for a while, but I found him eventually." she held out a hand to Fives and he pulled her to her feet, his confusion slowly giving way to dawning realization. "He was not happy about being caught, but I managed to drag him home."

"That's a start." the Captain's tone was strange to the ARC's ears, considering that he was talking to a former commanding officer. It seemed almost like teasing. The notion was baffling.

"It is. Don't worry, I got this. I promise to take better care of him for you. I know you feel responsible, even if he wasn't under you watch when he went missing. Feel free to visit any time, though. I'm sure he'd appreciate a _familiar_ face." she sniggered, not at all bothered by the answering, aggravated groan. Fives stifled a chuckle, quickly catching on to their codes.

"Very funny, kid." the young woman's eyes narrowed at the nickname.

"What did I tell you about calling me kid, Rexter?"

"That was your _pun_ishment, littl'un." the Togruta grinned, unable to maintain the stern, indignant look.

"Touché, Captain." she shook her head. Fives got the impression that this verbal sparring was almost second nature between the two and wondered how this strange routine came about.

"I've got to go soon. Curfew in ten minutes." his voice was strained with fatigue and Ahsoka's expression turned to serious in a heartbeat.

"Then go. Get some sleep, Rex."

"Will do, Sir. At you command." the mocking use of formality left the ex-Jedi glaring at the comlink.

"You seem to forget that while I'm not your superior anymore I'm now at liberty to kick you in the shebs as I please. Just you wait…" in contrast to her words the smile playing on her lips was affectionate.

"I'm terrified." the statement was dripping with sarcasm. "On another note, remember not to be too harsh on that errant pet of yours. The important thing here is that you've found him. And tell him that he's a good boy, no matter what."

"I will, stop fussing. I'm sure he had a good reason to run away anyway. Maybe he'd seen something out there and decided to see for himself. I can't punish him for being curious, can I? And I'm sure he didn't attack that slimy creature he ran into, either. Most likely the other way around, no matter what that scum says. I never trusted his kind."

The ARC'S eyebrows drew together, decoding the careful messages exchanged. He was puzzled by the explicit trust the two of them had placed in him, but he was grateful nonetheless.

"Fine then. I'll visit tomorrow if I'm not caught up again in that wild-goose chase the shock troopers are on even as we speak. Did you hear about the incident?"

"About the Chancellor? Yes, the top sensation on the HoloNet at the moment is the footage of Fives fleeing the scene. I can't believe that he could do something like that." her faked disappointment was quite convincing. If any intruder decided to listen in on the conversation they would've heard a genuinely confused young woman, talking about someone she considered to be a friend and comrade going rogue. The trooper next to her couldn't help the nervous shuffling of his feet, uncomfortable with the topic.

"I couldn't believe it either. But everyone else is convinced that he'd done it. And the evidence is clear. We've seen clones corrupted by a number of things before." the 501st Captain spoke with a pained conviction, as if it hurt him to admit that such a thing was possible.

Fives gritted his teeth to refrain from blurting out an instinctive response in defense of himself, knowing that if anyone listening in on the exchange picked up on his presence he'd be doomed, along with his former commander. That, however, didn't mean that his brother's words didn't sting, even if he knew they were only part of a rouse.

"It's just sad." Ahsoka sighed, glancing at the nearby chrono. "Never mind... It will blow over soon, I'm sure of it. But you really have to go now."

"Affirmative. Good night, littl'un. Rex out." and just like that the call was over, leaving the Togruta and the A.W.O.L. clone in a heavy silence which stretched long between them as they both got lost in thought.

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**P.S.: I adore your reviews and am always open to your ideas/suggestions. Now, what I'm interested in is your view on Order 66. As Fives escaped and has the knowledge to save many, I have an outlined version of this fic where we can avoid Order66. But I find that too AU. I love Star Wars, I grew up on the original trilogy - I begged my parents to get me an Ewok every Christmas until I was 8 - and if I avoided O66 in this fic I'd eradicate that storyline. But since Clone Wars came out I became a clone enthusiast and now I want them to live - not in the sense of existing, but in the "I have an actual life and future" sense. I'd be grateful for any insight...**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay everyone, here's chapter 4. I'd like to thank all the reviewers for their kind words, encouragements and ideas. I found every one of them to be of use, you'll see what I came up with ;) I am sad that I can't reply in PM to each of you individually, but rest assured I'm grateful for the insight. I'd write more to you here, but I'm in a hurry and just wanted to post the chapter before I'm swept away by work. It is possible that I won't be able to update till next week, sorry for that in advance.**

**Enjoy your weekend!**

**Disclaimer: /beten**

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Ahsoka was brought out of her reverie by the unnerving feeling of being closely scrutinized. She glanced over at Fives, still standing with his back ramrod straight just a couple of feet from her, his searching gaze boring a hole into her.

The Togruta took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, attempting to compose her thoughts. It was time she filled in the blanks for the confused man.

"Take a seat, Fives. This will be quite a long chat." her voice was soft and her smile warm as she gestured for the trooper to plop back down on the couch. "I'll be back in a minute."

The man nodded, but she felt him continue watching her as she retreated into the apartment's kitchen.

Digging through some cabinets and the conservator she found the box of donuts she remembered lying around. She threw it on a tray, along with carafes of caf and muja juice and nodded to herself. No better way to make a clone feel at ease than to feed him something sugary and give him caf; a piece of life-saving advice she got from Rex a long time ago.

The ARC's previously impassive expression changed to one of awe the second he laid eyes on the food and beverages Ahsoka sat down in front of him on the coffee table. He eyed the donuts with the giddiness of a child preparing to open his life day presents. For a fleeting moment he seemed to forget the hardships he's recently been through and the Togruta found her lips curling upwards into a fond little smile.

"Go ahead, Fives. I may not be the best cook in the galaxy, but I make a mean cup of caf, at least according to Rexter. And I bought the donuts, don't worry…"

She didn't even get to the end of her second sentence before the trooper's hands shot out to grab an iced, chocolaty pastry and pour a mug of caf simultaneously.

Shaking her head the young woman rounded the table, settling onto the other end of the couch to be close enough to offer the clone support if needed during their talk, but far enough as to not invade his personal space. She waited patiently for him to polish off half a dozen of the donuts and to finish his third caf before she addressed him again.

"I'm sorry, you know." she had no idea where to begin, but she owed him an apology. She supposed it was as good a starting point as any.

He, however, was not on the same page by the looks of it, or at least he was genuinely taken aback by her words as his head snapped towards her, eyebrows lifted.

"What for?"

Though she knew it would have been entirely inappropriate to laugh at him in this situation the urge to do so was hard to overcome when he looked like a fish washed ashore, staring at her with his mouth agape. She cleared her throat, turning her attention towards her fidgeting hands while she regained her composure.

"For leaving." it was a simple admission, but one which had been weighing on her heart for months.

"I don't follow, Sir." seemingly without conscious thought he reached for another sugary treat and took a bite, but Ahsoka could still feel his gaze on her. He was nothing if not attentive.

"For leaving the order and for leaving you all to fight a war while I sat here, comfortable in a Coruscanti apartment and the hardest decision I had to make on a day to day basis was about choosing what kind of juice to buy to go with my breakfast." she closed her eyes, the strong feeling of self-loathing gnawing at her heart. "To tell you the truth, I'm not sorry in the least that I'm not a Jedi anymore. I see now that I was never meant to be one anyway. I'm not one who can avoid attachments. But I feel awful about leaving everyone I hold dear behind."

She lifted her head to find Fives staring at her intently, his head cocked to the side. She bit her lower lip, her eyes stinging with unshed tears.

"And I'm so sorry for not being there when you needed me. When Tup needed me. Or any of the others you've lost since my departure. I swore to myself after what happened to you on Umbara that I would never leave you guys to fend for yourselves again. That I would get as many of you as I can through this war, one way or another. And then I just bolted." her shoulders shook with the effort to keep her tears at bay.

She'd never let herself cry over this issue, bottling it up for months. When Rex found her just a few short days after her trial, sitting with her back against a large crate outside of the barracks of the 501st and looking at the building with a deep sadness in her eyes he knew. He practically read her thoughts on the matter and reassured her that he would take care of the men who'd previously served under their shared command. He told her not to blame herself. That she deserved the chance to live a life she was denied ever since her childhood.

And she'd readily accepted the words of comfort, forcing herself to believe everything he'd said, even though both of them knew that the men wouldn't be just fine. That she couldn't go and visit with them anytime she wanted. And that when the war was over they wouldn't all get together in one of the cantinas the clones regularly visited to have a celebratory drink. But as she listened to her Captain jokingly talk about such impossible scenarios her smile returned and her doubts disappeared for a while. She'd successfully lulled herself into the false illusion that she'd made the right decision.

But she kept in touch with Rex. And every time they spoke and she heard the pain of recent loss in his voice – usually imperceptible to anyone who didn't know the man as well as she did – her heart lurched painfully in her chest and her throat ached from unshed tears for the lives lost. Friends, brothers, individuals left behind on bloody battlefields, never to be buried and remembered only by a few survivors, if any.

Men, who'd never have the chance to have what she had now. They've been slaves practically their whole lives – even worse, they were created to be slaves in the first place – and died without knowing what could've been theirs.

The Togruta's shoulders slumped, her head bowed deep as she took a couple of calming breaths. This was not how she imagined this conversation with Fives. He was the one who needed the support now, her own childish insecurities could wait, she scolded herself.

With a last shuddering breath she straightened her back and wiped at her eyes with the backs of her hands to erase any sign of her breakdown. Drawing her feet underneath herself she turned towards the ARC.

He was frowning at her now, his eyes slightly narrowed and expressive and heart wrenchingly compassionate. She was astounded by his capacity to be so empathic. Thinking about the irony she came close to letting out a bark of laughter, which – on second thought – most likely would've made her look like a madwoman.

"You couldn't have saved him." his words were quiet, his jaw clenching as he finished the sentence.

With one of her markings raised in a silent question Ahsoka shifted in her seat, extending her arm towards the agitated trooper, holding her hand out to be a lifeline if he needed one to go on. And he clutched it in one of his, shutting his eyes for a brief few seconds before he continued.

"You only did what you felt you had to. What any of us would've done if we had the liberty, the opportunity and the free will." in his anger he clenched his hand around Ahsoka's and she winced as the delicate bones ground together, but she never made a sound to admonish him. Her discomfort was nothing compared to his agony. "But we don't. Can you imagine? We are barely more to them than flesh-droids, controlled with chips, conditioned to be the perfect, obedient soldiers. And Tup died because of it. My brother died because the fekking 'inhibitor' chip in his brain malfunctioned."

His gaze wandered to the other side of the room as he spoke, but in the end his head snapped back to face the young woman sitting next to him. His eyes were ablaze with barely repressed fury.

"And if he hadn't died because of that they would have killed him anyway. To 'study' him and his actions on Ringo Vinda. How is that fair?! He never stood a chance." a teardrop appeared in the corner of his eye and he swept it off his face in an angry gesture with his free hand. "That long necked abomination told me that it was a simple matter of analyzing some defective 'product'."

His voice cracked and he hunched over, his face buried in his palm. Ahsoka's heart clenched at the sight. She moved closer, draping her free arm over his shoulders. She didn't say anything though. There was nothing she could've said to ease his pain.

"It was all a plot. From the beginning. We were designed to kill the Jedi, conditioned to serve them and turn on them when the time came." he was whispering now, but it didn't matter. The Togruta heard every word as clear as day and she froze, not quite capable of comprehending what she'd just learned. Alas, it seemed that the ARC would make it easier on her, as he chose to elaborate. "The Kaminoans are in league with the Separatists, or something like that. They tried to arrest me, recondition me, kill me before I got to the truth. And when that failed they set me up. The Chancellor is in on it, too. I have no idea how much he knows, but he's got some interest in it. And they got the Jedi all fooled. Every one of us and them are in danger."

He lifted his head just enough to peer up at the girl curled up beside him from the corner of his eye.

"We had nightmares. Every brother had nightmares, ones we were afraid to discuss in detail. We feared that the Jedi might pick up on it. We never thought that we were capable of such things, to betray them and kill them in cold blood without first getting some proof of their betrayal of the Republic and we were disgusted by ourselves for thinking about such things. It didn't matter that it was just in our dreams. I know that every trooper in the 501st struggled to understand how they could feel contempt – even unconsciously – towards the leaders they held in high regard when awake. When it wasn't the General we'd dreamt of, it was you. Not one of us understood how that thought could even form in our minds. And Rex… He was the worst. That nightmare killed him a little every time. But in the dreams the order came and we didn't even blink as we pulled the trigger. We never asked for confirmation from anyone. That voice was like a switch, we couldn't disobey." his elbow remained propped up on his knee, but he turned his head to run a hand over his scalp. "I didn't connect the dots until they captured me and shipped me off to Triple Zero. Tup had told me as he died that the nightmare was finally over. I thought he was talking about the war and the living hell he's experienced in his last days. But during my investigation on Kamino my chip was removed. And when that scientist had drugged me en route to Coruscant and I fell asleep I had no dreams about killing the General. Or any Jedi. For the first time in my life I've dreamt freely. What we thought – what they made us think – to be our own unconscious rebelling against the Jedi, what we were ashamed of for years, was their own training program designed to prepare us for the massacre they expected us to carry out."

His fist clenched awfully tight around the Togruta's and she gave a soft grunt. The clone's gaze, however, was fixed on a spot on the tray before him and he seemed far away.

And Ahsoka was glad that he didn't look at her in that moment. He would have easily caught the fleeting moment of panic passing through her face. She had to forcefully remind herself that Fives didn't have that chip anymore and she wasn't a Jedi. Most importantly he was her friend and she trusted him. She had nothing to be afraid of.

Her thoughts, however, remained dark and chaotic. She shivered, feeling chilled to the bone despite the temperature control in the apartment. She was struggling to make sense of the information she'd just gained.

This revelation brought on so many question, possible scenarios and horrible visions. To analyze them, one by one, would take a long time. It was quite fortunate that they had plenty of that, waiting for the dust to settle, so to speak, on Coruscant.

But first she needed a moment to compose herself and Fives had to regain his strength. He was already working on his part though, a fact she'd discovered as she felt him shift under her arm and chanced a quick glance at him, only to find him slumped over to the side, eyes shut tight and jaw clenched. He fell into a fitful sleep, probably from exhaustion.

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**I know I've left many a question unanswered, but we'll get back to every single on of them later. Don't fret. :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**All my love to those who still spend their time reading this story. Thank you for the amazing support :) It was not my intention to make anyone cry, but maybe this is the way you can let it go. Season 5 ending and the Fives arc are sad. Just look at me, I couldn't part with those two and now I'm here, all crazy and wiriting a fic just to give them a happy ending.**

**Now, you have some Rex in this chapter, but this is just an intro of him, so to speak, the next one will be more Rexoka-centric ;)**

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The faint knocking on the window of the living room startled Fives and he leapt back into the 'fresher he'd just left a moment ago. His heart thudded loudly in his chest and a string of whispered obscenities in various languages left his mouth.

The curtains were drawn in every room of the apartment as he'd learned from Ahsoka, to keep the curious gazes out, but maybe this was exactly what alerted someone…

The ARC had no time to further speculate about the issue, because a couple of seconds later the door leading to the balcony slid open.

"Littl'un?" at the simple inquiry the trooper let out a deep sigh of relief and peeling himself off the wall of the refresher he ventured out into the living room.

"She's out on some errand." his statement surprised the other man and Fives soon found himself facing two blasters pointed at him by his startled brother. He flashed a cheeky grin at Rex, pushing the weapons to the side carelessly. "Easy there, Sir."

The blond clone holstered his DCs, lifted the helmet off his head, depositing it gently on the nearby coffee table and then gave him a slight glare. The ARC studied his movements, coming to the interesting conclusion that the Captain seemed to be oddly at ease in and familiar with these surroundings.

"That's easy for you to say, Fives. What have you gotten yourself into? What the frak happened over there?" he was genuinely concerned, flickers of emotion breaking through his stony exterior as he fixed his searching gaze on his brother's face.

"Tup's dead." Fives felt like he'd just explained everything with those simple words. Because, in his mind, everything that's happened since had been the result of that one, crucial event which pushed him into despair and started him on that suicide mission for the truth.

"I know. I've got the report. Filled with complete, utter bullshit. Coric and Kix agreed that there's no such parasite on Ringo Vinda which would affect a clone in that way. This was not some repetition of the brain worm incident at Ord Cestus from years ago. I want the truth. What's going on?"even phrased as a question it was a clear order and not a request. And Fives was more than happy to obey, settling down on the couch to bring Rex up to date.

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They sat in silence for quite some time after Fives had finished his recounting of the events of the last few days. The 501st Captain perched on the corner of the coffee table was undeniably shaken by what he'd heard, though his efforts to hide it were admirable. The ARC found it better to leave the man to his thoughts. He needed time to digest the information.

When he finally spoke his voice was almost unrecognizable, a broken whisper instead of his usually booming, confident timbre.

"So it was all for nothing. Brothers fought bled and died for a lie." he was staring into space, eyes unseeing. "We were bred, flash-trained, conditioned to do the bidding of some megalomaniac. You say every one of us has that chip?"

"I believe so." he was afraid to talk too loudly.

Rex jumped up and started to pace, looking more like a caged animal than the calm and collected clone officer he was known as. He went silent again, for the longest time and only stopped in his tracks when he saw something out of the corner of his eye, swirling around to stare at the door which led to the small entrance hall from what the ARC had surmised during his pre-breakfast tour of the apartment.

Fives, alarmed by his brother's sudden movement was on his feet in a heartbeat, cursing his current fugitive status and the constant feeling of paranoia which came with it.

As he realized that the cause of the commotion was only the arrival of Ahsoka he scowled, turning back towards Rex. The stupid chakaar nearly gave him a heart attack.

But the Captain didn't seem to register the scathing gaze directed at him; he stood still, transfixed by the Togruta for some reason.

"Hi Rexter." she broke the silence which descended on the clones earlier and moved into the room, her boots clicking on the floor as she approached her friend.

Who, in turn, took several steps back, nearly tripping over the coffee table, eyes wide as saucers.

"You know…" the Captain's voice shook. Never in the short few years of their acquaintance had Fives heard him to be so frightened.

Puzzled and – judging by the frown marring her face – hurt by the clone's actions Ahsoka came to a halt, waiting for an explanation. She didn't get one, because Rex, with a sudden shake of his head and an angry growl, spun to face Fives and pounced on him with a raised fist.

In the ensuing fight the ARC did his best to simply dodge the punches thrown at him and tried not to injure his brother while he attempted to figure out what possessed him.

"You shouldn't have told her. Not ever. We promised to protect her from that."

Oh. That. Well, he thought as he rolled to his side to avoid a vicious left hook, he wasn't exactly planning on letting that cat out of its bag, it just came spilling out with the rest of his story.

He would have mused for a while longer over the subject but as Rex drew back the next time, preparing to deliver what would have been quite a devastating blow to Fives' temple, he was swept off his struggling brother and crashed onto the floor with a furious, petite Togruta sitting on his stomach. The ex-Jedi flashed her pointed little teeth to the 501st Captain and pressed one of her palms between his shoulder and chest armor, the other against his pauldron.

"What the frak is wrong with you?" her angry hiss was scarier than what Fives would've thought her capable of. But being the curious one he suppressed the slight apprehension he felt, getting back on his feet and watching the scene play out with open curiosity.

The fight had left Rex as soon as he found himself flattened to the ground by his former superior, but his hands were still clenching and unclenching, his head turned to the side and his eyes screwed shut. It seemed he was determined not to look the young woman in the eye.

"I asked you a question, Captain. What. Was. That?!" she was obviously not content with putting up with Rex's cold shoulder act. She let him know in a peculiar manner though, getting off of him, only to lie down at his side, facing him and catching one of the restless hands between her both of hers as she gently headbutted the man. Her feral expression was gone, a confused and concerned one taking its place.

She waited for a while, but the answer wasn't forthcoming. Lifting herself up on an elbow she craned her neck towards Fives and lifted one of her facial markings. The trooper, however, was much too shocked by this last, affectionate act to even open his mouth.

Rolling her eyes she finally gave up and with a graceful, fluid movement reminiscent of some agile serpent stood, marching into the kitchen, leaving the two clones alone with the order to "Behave". The ARC watched her as she disappeared behind the transparisteel, the cogs in his head turning. Then he peeked down towards his brother, finding him watching the now closed door and smirked at the height on which his gaze was fixed. This explained the outburst, he supposed, but he deserved revenge all the same. And being the ladies' clone he was he knew just how exactly he was going to exact it. A little harmless fun wouldn't hurt anyone and maybe, just maybe, the clueless 501st Captain would finally realize what his men had known for a long time. Not to mention it would provide a welcome distraction it the misery that was surely waiting for them in the near future.

* * *

**Because I had to. So many of you were inclined to believe this to be a Fives/Ahsoka fic I felt it necessary to give you something in tribute. This, however, won't change the fact that this is a Rex-Ahsoka pairing. To the ones who are prone to becoming concerned on the behalf of characters, don't worry, no one will get hurt (or remain hurt in the end ^^ ). I only want to give some room for Fives to get into trouble. His personality just screams for it. Sorry :D**


End file.
